A Christmas Story
by ImperfectLullaby
Summary: Castle finds the perfect Christmas present for Kate.
1. Chapter 1

_**Ok, I know I should be working on that other piece of fluff I'm writing, BUT I'm just not motivated. Anywho... Here goes, Christmas fluffiness :)**_

It was a dark, cold winters night in the Castle loft and not a sound could be heard but the crackle of the fire and the scratching of a pen against paper. It was the night before Christmas Eve and Richard Castle had left his most important gift until last. It wasn't intentional, that he'd left Kate Beckett's present so late, he'd been looking for weeks. Nothing had jumped out at him. Nothing "screamed" Kate, until he came across a small stationary boutique on the way to a crime scene this morning.

* * *

><p>He was later than usual, as it were, the queue at the coffee shop about a mile longer than expected. After collecting the caffeinated beverages from the barista, he decided to walk the three blocks to the crime scene. He'd nearly made it two blocks when a car sped past, hitting what was left of a melting snow drift and throwing slush down the side of his new Armani suit. Now, Richard Castle was, by no means, a vain man, but he did take pride in the way he dressed. He had turned to the window of the boutique to survey the damage done by the sloppy mess that had been flicked up at him. After assessing the side of his dark pants and feeling quite happy that it was only a small splatter mark, his eyes landed on it. It lay in the corner of the window display, on a mahogany cushion, its black leather cover glistening under the lights of the display. He to know what was in it. His eyes were drawn to the warm travel mugs he was clutching. It would take a few seconds, and he was already late, so he pushed the door open.<p>

Breathing in was the most wondrous experience Castle had had in a very long while, his senses were assaulted with the aroma of freshly pressed paper, the musty smell of old classics and the tang of newly opened ink. A small, old man with glasses perched precariously on his nose, greeted him and offered his assistance. Richard smiled politely and pointed towards the window display containing the mysterious leather tome.

'I'm wondering about that book in the display. The black one in the corner.'

The old man nodded and hobbled to the display to collect the heavy volume. He handed it to Richard, running a hand across the cover to collect the dust that had settled itself during the books wait.

'We can stamp it with gold infill if you decide on it. This book has waited long enough to find its place.'

Castle smiled at the gent. He was obviously an avid collector of volumes. Opening the cover, Castle was met with surprise as he noted the heavy yet blank sheets of parchment, not paper, bound between the leather. 'This is parchment!' He grinned, an idea suddenly blossoming in his imagination. 'I'll take it,' he said with a smile, 'Oh, and I'll need a few bottles of ink while I'm here.'

The old man smiled and took the book behind the counter and reached up to retrieve two wells of black ink. Another thought sprung to Castles mind as he stood waiting for the bill, 'Would you stamp this for me? I'll collect it on my way home and pay extra for the rush.'

'Of course, Sir. Just write here what you'd like it to say,' he answered, pushing a small book across the desk. Castle picked up the pen, his hand was shaking slightly as he wrote just two words.

_For Kate._

* * *

><p>He finally arrived at the scene some twenty minutes later than he'd expected. Thankfully the barista had made their coffees extra hot this morning so it seemed the universe was in his favour when Kate smiled gratefully at him and clutched the warm cup to her lips without chastising him for his tardiness. As it turned out, their call was a false alarm and she was in fine form for it. She had only waited at the scene because she knew that Castle was on his way. He knew this would have caused quite a bit of ribbing from Detectives Ryan and Esposito but was unbelievably grateful for not having to walk back alone.<p>

Chipper was not a word that one would normally use to describe Katherine Beckett, but today it seemed to fit perfectly. There was a smile that was permanently fixed on her lips, her hair was curling freely around her shoulders instead of being restricted by a tie and to top it off, she was giggling.

Castle couldn't believe it as he walked out of the break room with fresh mugs of coffee to find Lanie had claimed his chair and the two were laughing like schoolgirls. It was an odd sight for a homicide department. He walked over and placed the coffee on the desk in front of Kate noticing that she had sorted the paperwork that had been littering the desk previously.

She looked up at him, eyes sparkling with mirth, 'Thanks, Castle.'

He smiled back, 'Anytime, which reminds me, are you and your dad still coming for dinner Christmas Eve?'

Lanie let out a small giggle and Kate's cheeks burned a soft pink. Lanie's laugh was cut short by a soft thump and an, 'Ow!'

'Yes, dad said thank you for the invitation and I have tomorrow and the next two days off so I _will _be helping in someway...'

Rick cut her off, 'Kate, you barely ever get days off, I don't want you to spend your day helping me when you could be relaxing.'

Rick heard Lanie mumble something along the lines of, 'Oh, she'll be _helping_ alright.' There was another thump under the desk followed closely by Lanie's cry of, 'Girl, Imma smack you!'

Rick let out a chuckle and put his untouched coffee in front of Lanie, 'I see you girls are busy, so if you don't mind, I have a little last minute gift wrapping to do.' Unless Castle had been very mistaken, he could have sworn that there was a tinge of disappointment in Kate's eyes as she bid him farewell. He couldn't dwell on that, he had a present to finish.

* * *

><p>And so, here he sat, the clock had just ticked past midnight, his pen flowing across the page. His hand was starting to feel the cramping associated with hours and hours of long hand, but Kate was worth it. He was determined to finish this book for her by Christmas morning.<p>

It was nothing like his usual macabre works, it was a tale of the romance and magic of the Christmas season. Something light and fluffy that she could read after a long day chasing hardened criminals. Something of her own.

Finally, at two in the morning, Castle looked over at the fire, it had begun to wane hours before hand and was now just a collection of glowing embers. He had just completed the last line of the story, four pages from the back of the leather backed volume. Stretching out in his chair, the bones in his hands and fingers cracking and popping with relief, Rick checked his phone. One new message from five minutes ago. And from Kate Beckett? What was she doing up? He opened the message and laughed at the short but completely adorable message.

_Happy Christmas Eve! :D K_

She really was in an amazing mood about having Christmas off this year. He opened a replay and answered quickly.

_Why are you still up? C_

Replacing his phone on the desk he closed the book and placed it in the gift box, he would write the letter later.

His phone vibrated against the hard wood of the desk, _how had he not noticed the first one? _He opened the message on the way upstairs to curl up under the warm blanket.

_Baking cookies ;) You? K_

Cookies? Kate Beckett bakes cookies? He let out a hollow laugh and replied quickly.

_Is that what you kids are calling it these days? :P I was just putting the finishing touches on your present._

The next reply was nearly instant, _Nice to know I'm keeping you up late, Castle. I'm going to bed now, you'd better be up when I get there..._

He grinned at the hole she'd dug and sent one last text. _Oh, I will be, Detective, just wait and see ;)_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Wow, I'm on a roll :P Here's the next installment, oh and BlueViking77 I read your review and nearly died, I can't believe I forgot that. But in my defence it was 11.30 at night here when I was writing it. Enjoy xx**_

It wasn't a particularly lovely morning. The snow that had fallen overnight was starting to melt, piles of slush haphazardly covering the pavement. The sky was a dull grey and clouded over with the promise of more of last nights snowfall. Even so, Kate Beckett was in a great mood. Not even the fact that she was on her way to the scene of a homocide was going to bring her down. Up ahead she could see the scene, red and blue lights flashing from the cars that had over run the sidewalk.

Parking her car, Kate stepped out into the chill of the street. Her gloved fingers finding refuge in the deep pockets of her bottle green pea coat. She pulled her phone out, her fingers immediatly missing the warmth, and hit one on speed dial. Holding her phone to her ear, she found herself huming the obnoxious christmas tune that Rick Castle had set as his caller tone and resolved to have a bit of fun with him, it was Christmas Eve Eve, after all.

He answered the phone with a throaty, 'Beckett?'

As she had expected, he was in bed still. She grinned and lowered her voice as she passed under the tape, 'What are you wearing?' There was a thump on the other end of the line and Kate found herself pressing a hand to her mouth to stifle the laugh that was threatening to escape. 'You ok there, Castle?'

'You... You just...'

'You gonna let me finish? Coz if you're still in your pyjamas, you might want to get out of bed... Well, off the floor.'

'Dead person? I'm up, and dressed.'

Kate quickly rattled off the address and walked up the stairs to the crime scene.

* * *

><p>It seemed that the heaven's were on Kate's side today, her crime scene turned out to be a false call. The victim had had one to many egg nogs and fallen over whilst cooking dinner, landing on the knife he was using. So here she was, waiting for Castle, who was already ten minutes late. She leaned against her the car and answered her phone, expecting it to be her partner trying to apologise.<p>

So she answered accordingly with a, 'Where's my coffee, goofball?'

To say she was surprised with the answer would be an understatement. 'So dad's not there yet?'

'Alexis? Is everything ok?' Kate asked suddenly filled with worry, Alexis rarely called her.

'Yeah, everything's fine, Kate. I am just ringing to ask an enormous favour... I mean, if you don't have plans tomorrow or anything.'

Kate smiled at the nervousness in the girls voice, 'No plans tomorrow, Alexis. I have the next three days off and you're dad invited my dad and I around for dinner tomorrow, is that ok?

'Um, did he tell you that it was my idea? Kate, we want you there. Anyway, back to why I'm ringing. Every year Grams and I spend Christmas Eve morning baking cookies and the desserts for dinner but Grams is off in London watching some over produced West End show. So now, I'm stuck, I don't think I'm going to be able to get it all done!' Kate found herself feeling sorry for Little Castle, she sounded so upset that she wouldn't be able to complete the meal on her own.

'Alexis, calm down. What can I do?'

There was a squeal through the phone and Kate could imagine the teen jumping up and down with excitement, 'Oh, Kate! This is gonna be great! Well, you can come over tomorrow morning... But you have to wear your pyjamas! You can't bake chrismas cake in a sweater. Oh, don't tell dad? We'll surprise him!'

Kate knew that the smile on her face wouldn't be leaving anytime soon, she hadn't helped with Christmas cooking since her last Christmas with her mom. 'Alright, I'll be over tomorrow morning, I might even make up a batch of my mom's cranberry shortbread tonight. It'll give me a chance to give my kitchen a workout for a change.' She looked up and saw Castle walking towards her, 'Alexis, your dad's almost here, so I'll see you tomorrow, about 8?'

She could hear the grin in Alexis's voice, 'Thanks Kate. I'll see you then.'

* * *

><p>The next morning, Kate rolled out of bed, still feeling a little groggy after her cooking spree and the early morning texts with Rick. It was half past seven already, so she quickly showered and changed into a long flannel pair of blue pyjamas adorned with cartoon cows. She threw a pair of jeans and a red top into a spare bag along with the green dress she'd picked out for Christmas dinner. She slipped into a long grey coat and pair of flats before grabbing the container of shortbread and headed quickly out the door.<p>

She arrived at the loft with about five minutes to spare so she texted Alexis instead of knocking, in case Castle was awake. The teen must have been stalking the door as Kate heard the _ping_ of a message tone and the door flung open, revealing Alexis dressed in bright yellow flannels with sheep with a beaming smile stretched across her face.

'Quickly he's still sleeping,' she said quietly. Kate pulled off her coat and hung it on the rack, turning around she found Alexis trying not to laugh at Kate in flannels.

'Hey, you chose the wardrobe, honey, I'm just following orders,' Kate said, grinning, 'Lets get this done before your dad comes out and sees me in these.'

* * *

><p>Rick woke up feeling refreshed considering the late hour that he went to bed, he rolled over and looked at the clock. Quarter to ten, he had to get out of bed to put the turkey on and start the trimmings if they were going to eat dinner. He threw on a shirt and ran a hand through his hair as he stepped into his office and saw the box with Kate's present in it. He let himself smile, he was so happy with the way the book had turned out and was excited to see if she'd like it.<p>

His thoughts were disrupted by a shriek of laughter from the kitchen. He was thouroughly confused, his mother was in London, who was Alexis cooking with? Maybe she invited Paige around... No Paige was in California with her parents. He walked out of his office and into the kitchen. What he saw melted him completely. He thought he was in love with Kate Beckett before, but seeing her standing in his kitchen, with Alexis, both in their pyjamas and covered in flour, warmed him in a way that he'd never felt before. He stood back, watching the two in the kitchen, Kate kneading the pastry and Alexis making the filling for the apple and berry pie.

He held back a smile as Kate put her hand in the flour bag and sprinkled a little across the bench, before calling Alexis over. Alexis turned around and looked over at face, copping a face full of flour. Kate let out a laugh at the shocked look on Alexis powdered face.

'I suppose I deserved that, huh?'

'You think? I have more flour in my hair than a baker! Anyway, pastry is done, where is your pie dish?' Alexis passed her a glass dish and looked up, catching her dad spying on them.

'Busted,' she said quietly, looking at Kate. Kate looked up and saw him leaning against the wall watching them, she looked down at her attire and smiled sheepishly.

'You gonna get in here and help or are you going to let us do all the work?' she asked, lining the pie dish with the pastry.

She grinned as he walked into the kitchen and kissed Alexis on the forehead, before turning to her, 'I thought you were on a day off. What happened to sleeping in?'

He noticed Kate shrug and focus a little more on the pie, 'I told you I'd help...' Kate smacked his hand away as he tried to pick the pastry, 'There's cookies in that container, if you can't wait until dinner.'

Rick felt himself grin as he reached around Kate for the cookie tin, even though her back was to him, he could tell she was rolling her eyes.

This was going to be one amazing Christmas.


End file.
